fogbanking

  I. “Prom Week” When I was in school, I attended a lecture given by Michael Mateas, who talked a bit about videogames involving social more »

Continue reading Social Physics and Algorithmic Prisons

I. Play Hard. Play Fair. Nobody Hurt.

I’m returning again to Stewart Brand, the Counterculture, and tying it back in to my long-running series of notes on game studies.

Someone- I forget who and it’s probably unimportant- was observing puppies play, and interpreted their play as an exchange of signals: “I could hurt you if I really wanted to, but I don’t.” Innocent play was a way to explore social interactions and each other without fear of significant damage. Even rough play could be done safely as long as all puppies continued to signal that they weren’t feeling threatened or hurt. Personally, I enjoy the intense competitive experience.

Anyway, given their attitude and history, it’s sensible that play and games might become a preoccupation of some of the Counterculture’s focus. As you might guess, they were interested in games that foster friendliness and cooperation, [and sometimes vertigo].

Continue reading The New Games Movement

I’ve been overworking a bit. I still wrote a little bit but nothing too coherent. (What else is new.) Part of my problem was that more »

Continue reading Mulling: Machines and Theories

I think this happens often- when your mind changes, the network of ideas that supported your previous worldview crumble a bit, and it becomes a more »

Continue reading Text Dump: Infantilization, Dreamlogs, Liberation through Laziness

In the game “Argument Champion“, A little demon appears and shows you the thought bubbles of your audience’s beliefs [for example “I like headers” or more »

Continue reading Mulling: Changing Minds